Common microfabrication techniques such as e-beam, laser beam, and standard photolithography are used to directly make or modify semiconductor wafers or fabrication masks. However, these techniques suffer from limitations in the size and energy which may to be used to create, modify, and inspect structures on the wafers or masks. Specifically, it is desirable that techniques be available to create, modify, and inspect structures in the range of a single molecule (approximately 1 Angstrom or less). However, the current techniques are unable to create, modify, and inspect structures at and below 100 nanometers.
For example, in conventional semiconductor fabrication mask repair systems, a finely focused laser beam is used to remove or chemically activate for removal material deposited in a pattern on a mask Similarly, the laser beam is used to deposit material on the mask by locally heating sites on the mask while the mask is in a gaseous environment. However, these techniques can only be used to create desired changes of no smaller then 500 nanometers. Moreover, these semiconductor fabrication mask repair systems cannot insure that the changes made to a modified mask will produce the desired pattern on a target wafer.